


Be Careful What You Wish For

by quebaek (anonymousloris)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Fluff, Lawyers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 01:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11795172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymousloris/pseuds/quebaek
Summary: Baekhyun didn't expect Yixing to suddenly go out of town and ask him to house sit.He also wasn't expecting to find and break a cool looking crystal orb in his attic.He especially wasn't expecting a man named Do Kyungsoo to appear of it and give him a hard time. That's for sure.





	Be Careful What You Wish For

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Code: YFBD-149
> 
> A big shout out to my beta. And to Baekhyun's dog. And you too!

Baekhyun has lost a lot of people.

Not because they died. Just because they drifted, or disappeared. They say they have to get out of town and then they stop responding to his messages. He never paid it much mind since he lived in a big city where people were constantly coming and going. Especially in their late to mid-20s, like him, as they got married or better jobs and moved away.

However there were two people that never left his side. His dog Mongryeong, and his odd, but wonderfully reliable friend Yixing.

And while he was sipping on his coffee this morning, nursing a slight hangover but pushing forward nonetheless, the latter called.

“Hey.” Baekhyun answered, looking away from his laptop and pinching the bridge of his nose tightly to relieve some of the tension hiding there. The pain slipped away for a split second, but reappeared moments later, just as annoying as before.

“I need a favor from you.” Yixing said promptly.

“Something weird picked up from the grocery store again?” Baekhyun sighed, moving his fingers from his nose.

Yixing had a tendency to call him and ask for odd things picked up from various locations. Witch Hazel from the pharmacy, ginger from the spice market, pig’s feet from the butcher, or plants he’d never heard of from the grocery store. Baekhyun always found it to be an endearing quality, though. Mostly because these little tasks took him to interesting parts of the city that he would have never gone to otherwise, and because he just liked shopping sometimes. Also, Yixing was a pretty damn good chef and he assumed this was for his cooking venture; and was almost always willing to repay the favor when Baekhyun found himself in trouble on Butler Street at ungodly hours of the morning.

“No. Not this time. In fact …” Yixing’s voice trailed off as if reading something he had to squint to make out, “Not for some time now. A dear friend of mine is very ill and I have to go out of town for a while. It was actually quite abrupt and in my haste I left some business unfinished. If you could attend to it then I would owe you.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun shut his laptop, “You’re alright, though? Anything for you, bud.”

“Yes I’m fine. Just a few chores left unfinished. I’ll repay you.”

Baekhyun chuckled, leaning back in his little chair as he held the phone to his ear, “Yeah, sure. I’m meeting with a client for lunch, but afterwards I can swing by your place and do whatever. You can just buy me a drink.”

“Honestly, Baekhyun, you’re fantastic.” Yixing seemed to brighten up instantly, “The key is in a floor pot hanging by the window sill and I’ve left a little list on the fridge of stuff I meant to do. Thank you kindly.”

“Yeah … anytime.” Baekhyun ended the call with a smile.

Now just for a lunch meeting.

* * *

Baekhyun had _never_ been in Yixing’s attic.

_Never._

To be honest he’d never even thought of going into the attic because it was a space that’s normally reserved for storage, or a spare bedroom if a family member you didn’t particularly care for decided to crash while they were in the city. But here he was holding a note asking him to tidy up said attic.

When he walked in, he had to wave his hand to disperse the cloud of dust that rose up. Yixing obviously hadn’t gotten around to any spring cleaning this April. Once the fog of particles cleared up from his vision, he saw an interesting area. Sure, there were boxes sitting stacked in different configurations, and the usual exposed piping covered by wooden slats. Beyond that, though, were many, many more interesting things. 

There was a tall ornate looking mirror, ringed with gold and delicately carved patterns. Opposite that was a table stacked with differently shaped pieces of glass, more mirrors, and what looked like beakers and test tubes. An empty coat rack, pieces of old looking furniture, and even more boxes lined the walls, covering the windows meant to bring light into the room. Most impressive was that on the other side of the wall, there were bookshelves crammed full of leather bound and weathered books with titles in languages he couldn’t even identify.

He knew that Yixing was an intellectual. Yixing was a professor at the university downtown. It was even worth mentioning that Yixing had an eclectic taste for the finer things and drank exclusively wine in his own home. However, this place was beyond stunning look at.

Baekhyun couldn’t even shake the idea that for a townhouse situated in a row of other townhouses, packed between towering buildings in a cramped downtown square … this room seemed way larger than it probably should.

That’s how stunning it was.

He dropped his bucket of soapy water on the floor and slung his towel over his shoulder.

“I think I’m going to need a Swiffer.” Baekhyun said.

\---

It had taken almost two hours. He had been scrubbing for a long time, playing his favorite playlist and belting out every note to every song that came on. In actuality, he was having so much fun cleaning that he hadn’t even been thinking about Yixing’s strange collection of objects.

That was until he came across a precariously perched box.

It was on top of a shelf and he had dusted the other shelves so carefully that it felt almost unjust to just leave this shelf dusty because he didn’t want to move one box. The box, however, looked quite different from the other boxes in the room. It was wooden and well lacquered with a heavy but shiny padlock on it. 

The padlock was a bit loose though, so he went to click it back into place and found the task nearly impossible. Thinking that maybe there was something preventing it from locking on the inside, he absentmindedly opened up the box.

That was when he came face to face with several crystal clear glass balls. They immediately caught his eye as they refracted light back at him. Each ball was smooth to the touch sans one area where a name was engraved into the surface. His curiosity drove him to pick one up and hold it in his hand. It felt oddly heavy despite the fact that it looked to be made simply out of glass or something similar. He turned it over in his hand and read off the name in a whisper.

“Kyungsoo?”

As soon as the sound left his voice, he felt the orb suddenly begin to vibrate in his palm. It startled him so much that he let the ball drop to floor.

There was a sudden shattering crash that rang out as it hit the wooden planks between his feet. Seeing the shards scatter, he put his arm in front of his eyes to protect them.

He continued to hear the clattering sound of pieces of glass hopping around the floor for a few seconds, but eventually the room became silent. It was then that he lowered his arm.

“Boo!” A face in front of him said.

“Holy shit!” Baekhyun yelped, falling back onto his ass and scuttling backwards until he slipped and ended up entirely horizontal. Baekhyun propped himself up on his elbows to look at the man.

“Oh, come on, it was a practical joke.” The voice said, almost dejectedly.

“Who the fuck are you? Where-where did you come from? Does Yixing have roommates? Why haven’t I seen you before? Holy fuck.” Baekhyun pushed all of the words out of his mouth as quickly as he possibly could, his mind just barely comprehending the sounds that were coming from him.

“That’s a lot of questions.” The guy squatted down beside Baekhyun. His black hair looking perfect as it pushed up in a beautiful, but short swoop to match his round eyes, “Alright. I’m Kyungsoo. I came from inside that little spherical contraption. Yixing does not have roommates. At least not ones that pay rent and … No, I don’t believe we’ve met.”

 

Baekhyun’s wide and shocked eyes stayed trained on Kyungsoo as he spoke. His chest was still rising and falling dramatically with the adrenaline that has been injected in his system from the scare.

Kyungsoo frowned, “Are you going to introduce yourself?”

Baekhyun opened his mouth, unable to come up with any response, even a quick and witty one liner like he normally had on call. Before he could struggle on for too long the guy put up a hand.

“No matter. I know who you are.” Kyungsoo smiled, “Byun Baekhyun. Freelance consultant and mildly successful lawyer, though you don’t do much advocacy, correct? You live here in the city and drink far, far too much caffeine. Really, you should be cutting back on that. Now are you going to get up?”

“I think it’s best I stay down here.” Baekhyun blinked, “How do you know me?”

“I can handle that too.” Kyungsoo said, standing up and snapping his fingers.

Suddenly, Baekhyun was on his feet. It was disorienting to suddenly be look the guy in eyes when the second before, he was flat on his back.

His voice _must_ have sounded shocked at this point, “How the hell did you do that?”

“Oh god.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, “You have so many questions. It’s really incessant. I can see why your ex-boyfriend called you annoying when you broke up.”

Baekhyun’s jaw nearly hit the floor. The only people that could have possibly known about that were him and Sehun. He went to ask about it, unable to control his inquisitive nature apparently, but Kyungsoo held up his hand again.

“Best I get on with the spiel then, right? I usually hate talking but I’ve been stuck in this ball so long a little chatter should do me well ...” He stepped back, glancing around the room and keeping that unnervingly beautiful smirk on his face, “This room. It seems a bit bigger than it should be, correct?”

 

Baekhyun nodded wordlessly.

“That’s because we aren’t in your city anymore. No, I’d guess this room is set up somewhere in the french countryside. Yixing always did love Europe. Especially Paris.” Kyungsoo snapped his fingers again and the walls became transparent, showing only ghostly outlines of what should be there.

Baekhuyn looked out onto the countryside that now surrounded him. There was a dirt path coming from the little area they were in, leading off down in the fields below, eventually evening out into rolling hills.

“You see, Yixing isn’t a normal guy.” Kyungsoo snapped his fingers again, returning the walls to their normal opacity, “He’s a mage. He’s also immortal. Just like me. Well, not just like. I’m not human.”

“Not … not human?” Baekhyun crossed his arm, “You look pretty damn human.”

Kyungsoo shrugged, “I was once. When I was born. But then like all young and not so well raised kids, I made a deal. I wanted to live forever and have powers. Little did I know it came with a price. I had nearly unlimited magic, but I could only use it when someone needed me. I could grant them wishes. Of course, that got boring so I began to make their wishes turn awry. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.”

“Like a genie?” Baekhyun asked.

Kyungsoo cringed, “Such a colloquial term. Just call me a wisher if you have to put a word to it, alright?”

Baekhyun shook his head, “Fine, okay, whatever. Yixing is a pretty weird guy and I don’t remember smoking this morning so I’ll take your word for it. But ... how did you end up in a ball in a box in my friend’s attic.”

“Ah.” Kyungsoo disappeared, suddenly reappearing sitting atop a stack of boxes in the corner wearing a white t-shirt and jeans now, instead of his earlier, more regal look, “Is this what you wear nowadays? Fashion reeks in the 21st. Anyways, Yixing was pretty well known as a collecting mage. He collected all sorts of things and went around doing _the right thing_ and saving people. I guess I understood it, but whatever. He moved into a town I enjoyed messing with and eventually caught me. He trapped me in that little orb, doomed to live in exile until somebody was smart enough to kill him or dumb enough to break it. I suppose you’re the latter.”

“Hey …” Baekhyun protested.

“Hush.” Kyungsoo appeared in front of him again, “You can turn this all around by being a little bit smarter than you just were. See, we can help each other out.”

“You’re mental.” Baekhyun commented.

“True,” Kyungsoo shrugged once more, “But I’m bored. I’ve lived a long time and I’m tired. I would really like to just stop living. I don’t necessarily have to die, but I can’t go on like this. Especially after so long in the sphere.”

“Okay, well, just snap yourself out of existence. You seem capable.” Baekhyun suggested, hoping maybe if he did so he could just clean the balls up and pretend none of this ever happened.

“I wish. Unfortunately, because you broke that sphere I’m now bound to you until my wisher duties are once again complete.” He put his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders, “Here’s the deal. You get three wishes. I will complete them in an entirely benign way, no tricks, no jokes, no nothing.”

“And after that?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow.

“I can finally die.” Kyungsoo smiled.

* * *

“So … Have you picked a first wish yet? I haven’t got forever.” Kyungsoo said.

Baekhyun was startled by the man who suddenly appeared across the table from him. He slid back in the chair until it hit the wall, gathering some attention to him suddenly. A couple people in the coffee shop glanced at him, seemingly unaware of Kyungsoo’s sudden appearance and shaking it off as another odd customer.

“Well,” Baekhyun gathered himself, “First of all, don’t do that ever again. Second of all, I haven’t exactly decided what to do about you yet.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, “You’re dramatic. You make three wishes. Quit burning daylight.”

Baekhyun put down his pencil and eyed the mythical being, “You’ll have to excuse me for not trusting you.”

“Alright fine. You get a freebie then.” Kyungsoo snapped his fingers.

However, nothing seemed to change until Baekhyun’s phone buzzed in his pocket suddenly. Keeping his eyes cleanly trained on the black haired boy in front of him, he pulled his phone out to check the message.

 _New Bank Statement Available_ it read.

He took his eyes away from the wisher finally to unlock his phone and check the app. When he did so he noticed that his checking account balance had risen. In fact he had about ten times as much money now than he had had this morning.

“What the heck?” Baekhyun looked up at Kyungsoo who smirking across from him, “Is this real?”

“Sure.” He drummed his fingers across the coffee table, “As long as you make three more wishes in a timely manner.”

“I’ll …” Baekhyun was dumbfounded, “I’ll think about it. Give me some time.”

“Great.” Kyungsoo reached across the table, picking himself up from the seat a bit to pat Baekhyun on the head, “Cute and smart. I’ll be around.”

With that, the guy snapped his finger and disappeared all over again.

* * *

“That’s a dumb wish.” Kyungsoo growled, “Is that seriously one of your three?”

“Hell yeah it is.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

He was laying on his bed with his corgi and cradling a sandwich from one of the many delis in the city like it was his newborn child. His corgi stretched a bit, yawning and shutting its adorable little eyes as it curled up next to Baekhyun.

“This is so stupid.” Kyungsoo pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes.

“I just love it so much. Are you telling me that you’ve never loved something this much?” Baekhyun said from the bed.

“I …” Kyungsoo trailed off, his angered expression melting off like neglected ice cream and dribbling into one that seemed further off in thought, “Won’t answer that.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun sat up.

His fluffy hair, mussed from the covers of his bed, came with him, making his cute features look a touch cuter. Kyungsoo didn’t give in to the look at all. Instead he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. There was no need for words when you had your cold, stand-offish behavior to carry you through.

Baekhyun played that game well though. He made a frowning face as he bit off a chunk of the sandwich. Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at the guy as he chewed like some sort of cartoon character. The mortal raised his eyebrows.

“Fine.” Kyungsoo threw an arm out of its fold and snapped his fingers, “It’s done.”

Baekhyun’s eyes lit up instantly. He bounded out of his bed and rushed past Kyungsoo through the door of his apartment. His corgi followed quickly behind him, excited by the sudden movement. When Baekhyun slipped into his apartment’s kitchen in his mismatches sock, Kyungsoo was already apparated into the room, sitting on the counter and rolling his eyes even further if that was at all possible.

“I’m so excited.” Baekhyun threw his fridge’s door open, snagging a sandwich that was placed in there.

He unwrapped it to see that it was an italian sub. Exactly what he wanted.

Again, he opened the fridge, another sandwich sitting where the other one was. He pulled that one out too, unwrapping it to see a turkey club. _Exactly what he wanted._

Baekhyun’s face was literally glowing with excitement and while his dog couldn’t figure out what was going on, he was excitedly clopping around as well. Kyungsoo was less amused however, staying perched on the counter top and looking like a disgruntled retail worker.

“I’ve never granted a wish this dumb.”

“You mean you’ve never granted a wish this good.” Baekhyun’s corrected, looking overjoyed still, “Infinite sandwiches for the win!”

* * *

“Why do you keep this in your house?” Kyungsoo pointed to Mongryeong who was padded about with his tongue out.

“He’s a rescue dog.” Baekhyun popped some popcorn in his mouth as he continued to channel surf, “And he’s always happy to see me when I come home.”

Kyungsoo watched the little furball walk aimlessly with a goofy smile on his face. The dog didn’t seem inherently interesting. From what he’d seen thus far, it mostly slept, ate, and walked around staring at different things until Baekhyun leaves to go somewhere. He didn’t understand why domestication had come so far.

“Kyungsoo, you don’t have to stay … existing … or here … or whatever. I could be a while.” Baekhyun said from the couch, “Where do you even go when you disappear?”

“Nowhere.” Kyungsoo responded, tilting his head, “When I open my eyes again at the moment I need it’s as if no time had passed at all.”

“So you keep hanging around because you’re lonely?” Baekhyun posed.

Kyungsoo was quiet for a moment, his arms still crossed as he watched the dog make his way over towards Baekhyun, “You keep this dog around because you’re lonely.”

 

The other boy shrugged, “Touché”

* * *

“Coffee again?”

Baekhyun nearly jumped out of his skin, “Fuck! Seriously?”

The immortal wisher that had been following him around for the past couple of days had magically poofed next to Baekhyun as he was sliding the coffee cup out of the single serve coffee machine. _Unfortunately,_ this was one of his more ill timed appearances seeing as Baekhyun began flailing in his surprise, sending the coffee cup flying across the room and shattering against a cabinet in a mess of white ceramic pieces and boiling hot liquid.

The rent paying tenant instantly went into shock, rushing over to grab some paper towels to sop up the mess.

“Chill out.” Kyungsoo said calmly.

He snapped his fingers and suddenly the coffee eroding his cabinet was gone, along with all the white chunks that had scattered across his kitchen floor. Instead the coffee cup was sitting, perfectly formed on the counter next to him where he was hurriedly grabbing paper towels. The roll of towel grabbing quickly decreased, however, when he realized exactly what had happened. He looked around for a second before turning his gaze back to Kyungsoo.

“Thanks?” Baekhyun said hesitantly.

“I should have let you suffer since you’re taking so long with these wishes.” Kyungsoo shrugged and held his hand up, poised to snap his fingers once more before remembering something, “Oh, and cut back on the coffee. Not that I care about you.”

After that he actually did snap his fingers, disappearing once more.

* * *

Mongryeong made a whining noise next to Baekhyun, which finally woke him up. He had fallen asleep still fully dressed, just lying face up on his bed. He had meant to rest for a couple of seconds before getting up and doing his nightly routine, but of course his sleep-deprived body had other plans for him.

Also, his phone, which was probably on half a percent of battery life by now, was buzzing up a storm next to Mongryeong who really just wanted to lazy around unannoyed by vibrating technology.

Baekhyun snatched the phone up in a few seconds, answering the call.

“Mmm … yeah?” Baekhyun grumbled.

“Baekhyun?” Yixing’s familiar voice came, soft and sullen.

“Oh, hey. How you doing, buddy?” Baekhyun responded.

Though he was sure the sleepiness was evident in his voice, he tried his best to seem interested. It was almost 10:00 in the morning after all. He should have woken up about two hour ago. Good thing he didn’t have any meetings until after noon.

“I’m fine. My friend seems to be doing worse if that’s at all possible. I think he may be …” His voice trailed off.

Baekhyun’s eyes were still shut, listening to the subtle sound of rain pattering on the window behind his bed. He hadn’t noticed it until right now which only added to the heavy air around Yixing’s words.

“Yixing.” Baekhyun’s voice was calm and stationery, “If you need anything you can just ask me.”

He had intended on waiting to confront Yixing about everything until he got back. While he trusted Yixing still, he didn’t feel that a phone call, especially now, would be an appropriate way to bring this up. That and _Hey, so you’re an immortal being I hear?_ is kind of an in-person conversation anyways.

“Thank you, Baekhyun.” Yixing spoke his name with a certain distance to it, “If you could just go to my house and water the plants. That’s all I can ask. I should be home soon depending on what happens. I can’t keep getting Junmyeon to cover my classes forever.”

Baekhyun chuckled, “I’m sure he won’t mind for a little longer.”

“Take care, Baekhyun.” Yixing’s voice turned upwards, seeming a bit more optimistic in tone.

“Of course.”

The call ended and so did his feeling of loneliness. He opened his eyes to look at his ceiling fan for just a moment, still enjoying the sound of rain outside and Mongryeong’s sleepy breathing. A couple of long moments spun out like thread before Baekhyun addressed the third presence in the room.

“Are you just going to stand there in the corner?” He muttered.

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo responded outside of Baekhyun’s vision, “Got a problem with that?”

“Yes, actually.”

Kyungsoo stood in the corner of the gray room, only lit by what little sunlight filtered through the thick rain clouds outside. He had one foot against the wall and the other keeping him on the floor. His arms were crossed in their traditionally closed position, inviting nobody inside.

“I don’t understand what you’re doing.” Kyungsoo said after a few more moments.

“I’m staring at the ceiling, dumbass.”

Perhaps it would have been best if he had just vanished. It was bizarre for him to be watching a melancholy human lie on his bed in angstful thought. However, the people he granted wishes for didn’t often take this long to make three stupid wishes and therefore he hadn’t really spent any length of time with a mortal, even before his capture. It was only natural for him to be intrigued by what Baekhyun did in the meantime.

“If you’re upset, you shouldn’t be. It’s not your problem.” Kyungsoo added, shrugging his shoulders as if to imply that he didn’t really care when he was the one egging the conversation on.

“I’m empathetic because he’s my friend. I care about him. Sorry if you’ve forgotten that emotion.” Baekhyun sighed, “And it’s cathartic to just look up at the ceiling. Do you even have that capability. Can you feel put at ease?”

Kyungsoo snapped his fingers, appearing next to Baekhyun on the bed. He was lying on his back and looking up at the same gray, popcorn ceiling that the human was. At first he didn’t really get it. He looked over at Baekhyun and tried to emulate his posture, putting his arms out and bit and hanging his feet off the side of the bed a bit. He was short enough to make it work, but still nothing.

Then after long enough of trying, he began to zone out a bit. The sounds of Mongryeong’s breathing sounded a bit louder. In fact he felt as though his breathing was attempting to match that of the dog and the other boy. The sound of the rain against the glass was like white noise, lulling him into a meditative state as he looked up at the motionless fan on the ceiling. It did make him feel at peace. Until this moment he hadn’t realized that he wasn’t at peace.

“Okay.” Kyungsoo whispered, “I get it.”

Baekhyun smiled.

* * *

Cabin fever was a serious issue for Baekhyun. After being stuck inside for the majority of his Saturday, and dodging a certain soft faced immortal that was hounding him left and right, all he wanted to do was go outside. Even if that meant having to run errands and work at his checklist, at least he wasn’t inside of his apartment choking on stale air and explaining what it’s like to be human.

Mongryeong leapt forward a bit then, yanking Baekhyun by the leash and causing him to stumble. He caught his balance on the sidewalk after a couple of awkwardly placed steps and reeled back, bringing the small but feisty dog into check.

“I know you’re happy to be out of the vet, but geez Mong.” Baekhyun mused out loud.

The dog just met him with a goofy look, but it made him really happy. The vet had said he was really healthy for his age and should live to be at least 15. That was about a decade. If only it could last longer, though.

“I wish Mongryeong would live as long as me.” Baekhyun said suddenly.

“No.” Kyungsoo denied.

Baekhyun looked to his left where Kyungsoo was sitting with a newspaper held up in front of his face. He peeked over the top of it, raising a dark eyebrow at Baekhyun before dramatically slapping the paper shut and tossing it onto the magazine stand he had appeared next to.

“Not to be rude, but I’m not making your dog live forever.” Kyungsoo said, stepping towards the pair.

“Well, if you want free of this whole situation you better.” Baekhyun adjusted his sunglasses, feeling a sudden leverage in the situation.

Granted, he figured that his second wish would be something like a nice car and less like a long lasting dog.

Kyungsoo clenched his teeth. It was easy to tell that he wasn’t often challenged. Though his face remained fairly apathetic as he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

“Done.”

Baekhyun looked at Mongryeong, still panting with his tongue out and watching cars whiz past him in the city streets.

“Oh cool.”

* * *

The last few drops of water dribbled out from the intricate looking can and onto the plant that Baekhyun was suspecting to hold magical properties. He recalled the watering can and set it down on Yixing’s table of tools, looking at it wistfully. It almost irked him not knowing was what magical and what wasn’t in this house. It was easy enough to understand why somebody would hide something like this. He could barely blame Yixing for his actions, but that didn’t make anything easier to comprehend.

He turned and headed for the door, deciding that staying much longer was a bad idea. Mongryeong had been fairly quiet since they had entered anyways, which always put Baekhyun on edge. The dog had better senses than he did.

On his way to the door, however, he was caught off guard by the crack in the door leading to Yixing’s study. There was a file box sitting out on the desk. Kyungsoo had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Yixing’s home and had stayed manifested outside of it, watching the people walk past him instead so there was nobody to stop him from peeking.

And peek he will.

He pressed the door open gently. It only squeaked the slightest bit as it opened, giving way to the office. Without a second of hesitation, he crossed the floor, looking at the filing cabinet and flicking through the files until he came to one of the very last ones.

“WISHER”

He swallowed his trepidation and slid the file out, spilling the contents across the desk. A couple of newspaper articles came out along with a few sketches of what could on be Kyungsoo and even a blurry, colorless photo of him smiling as he spoke to a young woman. A couple of pages obviously torn from a notebook came as well.

Baekhyun ran his fingers over the weathered pages as if he weren’t sure they were real. But they most certainly were. The ancient looking notes were certainly in Yixing’s handwriting. 

He read the notes out loud in a soft voice, “They call him the Wisher. Though, he does have a name. In fact he is very human like in many ways. My source in Europe states that the man travelled quite a distance to see a Jinnie. This Jinnie created a sort of hybrid out of him, but as time went on his immortality overtook him, pushing the more human parts of him out. He grew bored and began to take his duties as a wisher to another level. He hasn’t caused death or anything as terrible, but is in general a nuisance, and terrorizes towns with his offers. I hope to capture him like I have others gone awry.”

Baekhyun put the notes down and revealed a picture that looked to be painted. It was a small painting, one fit for a family that didn’t have enough money to afford a big portrait. It was a copy of the original, but still high enough quality to make it apparent that it was Kyungsoo as a child with his mother and father.

Upon flipping the image over he saw the dates of each person’s birth and death. His parents’ having the same date of death about 18 years after Kyungsoo’s date of birth. Kyungsoo had no date of death written down.

Mongryeong barked just then, snapping Baekhyun out of his trance with the image. He quickly slid everything back into the folder and tucked it back in its alphabetical place.

“Alright, let’s go.” He said to Mongryeong, ushering him out the front door.

* * *

Baekhyun was watching Kyungsoo play with Mongryeong. He had been using his magic to make things appear and disappear, thoroughly confuses the dog, but also endlessly amusing him. He supposed the two got on a little bit better now that they were both magical in nature now.

Meanwhile, he was sitting on the couch like usual, his thumbs hovering around his phone screen in unsureness. He thought perhaps he could finish this whole ordeal by making one simpler request from the wisher and calling it a day. He could ask for a nice house or a perfect boyfriend or something and Kyungsoo would disappear. In fact, he could just pretend he never figured all of this out about Yixing and just pretend.

But his moral compass pointed him away from that path and into pushing the call button on his phone. As he put the phone up to his ear, he started to get up from the couch.

“Hey, keep playing with him please.” Baekhyun said offhand as he stepped past Kyungsoo and towards the front door of his apartment.

He stepped out onto the railed balcony that connected the apartments on his building by the outside. There was a gently breeze in the wind and the world seemed to be plugging on at a sluggish pace as the sun set in the distance.

“Yixing.”

Baekhyun let out a breath when he answered the phone finally. He kicked himself into high gear before he could have a minute to second guess himself.

“I fucked up.” Baekhyun started, “I broke something in your attic and a dude popped up.”

“Oh.” Yixing paused on the other side of the line, “I did sense something amiss, but was too bothered over here to pay it any mind.”

“You’re not mad?”

He could hear Yixing chuckle lightly on the other side of the line, “Baekhyun, there’s nothing you could have released that would seek to do you real harm. They might cause minor nuisances, but once I return I’ll set everything straight. Which did you manage to let loose?”

Baekhyun glanced over his shoulder, barely catching a glimpse of Kyungsoo still playing with the corgi beyond the thick glass of his rarely cleaned windows. The immortal actually had an unmistakable smile on his face as he played with the little guy.

His voice came in much lower and softer this time, “Kyungsoo.”

Yixing actually laughed, “Ah, he’s pretty tame. I probably should have set him free by now anyways. If you’d be so inclined, just ignore him until I get back, okay?”

“Wait -- You aren’t upset that I found out about the whole magic thing?”

“Well you seem to be handling it quite well. I assume you don’t mind.”

“I …” Baekhyun hadn’t given that much thought, “I guess I’ll adjust.”

“You are my best friend, Baekhyun. Just so you know.”

A little warmth flared up in Baekhyun. It was nice to be appreciated. Even if it was from his eccentric wizard friend, “That means a lot, Yixing. Talk soon.”

He hung up.

* * *

“What exactly is tinder?” Kyungsoo asked.

Baekhyun sighed, “Couldn’t you appear to help me pick cereal or something instead?”

Kyungsoo looked at the floor to ceiling shelf of endless looking boxes of cereal. He rolled his eyes at it as well, “They’re all the same. But if you want that to be your third wish I can help you.”

“No I …” Baekhyun looked up at the ceiling, pausing for a moment, “Geez.”

“I just asked what tinder was.”

“I just wanted to buy groceries in peace.”

Kyungsoo did not look amused. A look on his face clearly stated that he cared very little about buying groceries. Who even cared? It was all the same and it all did the same thing. Honestly why are there 300 brands of cereal when everyone just picks one they like and continue to eat that one until it gets discontinued or they inevitably die and somebody in the afterlife judges them for their massive intake of Special K.

After that brief inner rant, Kyungsoo snapped his fingers and suddenly all of Baekhyun’s groceries appeared in his cart.

This still managed to surprise Baekhyun (though he somewhat expected something to happen whenever Kyungsoo was around). What he didn’t expect was how accurate the cart was. He saw almost everything that he had written down on his to-get list in addition to a couple of his favorite snacks, and a few things he needed around the house but had entirely forgotten about until right now. There was stuff in there that he had been putting off grabbing for weeks now.

“You’re too good.” Baekhyun muttered.

“Good.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes again, “So what’s tinder?”

Baekhyun laughed, pushing the cart down the aisle and to the check out, “It’s like … an app on a phone where you can match with people.”

“So it’s a matchmaker?”

“Yeah, sure, kinda.” Baekhyun shrugged, “But it’s mostly just for hook ups. You don’t go on there looking for love or somebody to marry.”

“That’s ridiculous.” The immortal responded, following Baekhyun down the aisle.

“You think everything we do is ridiculous.” Baekhyun huffed, “You were human once too. You still are a little bit. You just don’t die.”

“I’d like to.”

There was no more conversation for a few moments as Baekhyun checked out with the cashier. He swung all of his items through the belt and watched as each one racked his total up further. Grocery shopping always put a dent in his wallet even with the unlimited sandwiches in his fridge. A boy needs milk and coffee too.

As they walked away from the cashier and out the doors, Baekhyun reconsidered Kyungsoo’s response and the words Yixing had said earlier. Kyungsoo may not be as different from himself as he would like to believe.

“Were you ever in love before … you know?” Baekhyun asked, stopping the cart in the return area and snatching the bags out of the wire vehicle.

They were a lot heavier than Baekhyun anticipated and Kyungsoo must have noticed because the moment all the bags were slipped up on Baekhyun’s forearms he snapped his fingers and they were back at Baekhyun’s apartment.

Their sudden appearance scared the living daylights out of Mongryeong who quickly scuttled away in fear from the boys. 

“I seriously hate that.” Baekhyun himself was a bit disoriented and tried to catch his breath as he realized where they were. 

Kyungsoo allowed the moment, shrugging his shoulders responsively. Eventually Mongryeong recognized the boys by face or scent and came pattering back to the center of the room with his short little legs. Baekhyun gave his newly-invincible dog a smile before walking over to the kitchen where he dumped all of the bags onto the counter tops. He was the slightest bit relieved to have avoided compartment syndrome by getting zapped to his apartment. Although Kyungsoo would not hear him say that.

“You’re welcome.” Kyungsoo said finally and with an air of confidence the countered his next words, “I was by the way.”

“Was what?” Baekhyun asked mindlessly, ignoring his pointed comment and choosing instead to focus on unpacking his unhealthy grocery choices.

“In love.” Kyungsoo stated.

Baekhyun paused mid-way through pulling a box of microwavable popcorn packets from and plastic bag. He raised an eyebrow, “And …?”

“That’s it.” Kyungsoo leaned back against the counter, watching Mongryeong sniff around in hopes that Baekhyun would drop something on the ground for him to munch on. After a second of watching the dog with an ever so slight smile on his face he did continue, “He was nice. But it wasn’t allowed at the time. The world wasn’t as forgiving as it is now.”

“It’s not really forgiving now.” Baekhyun noted.

“It was worse back then.” Kyungsoo started, looking distant for a moment, “and as an immortal I never really got the chance to try again. You can’t find people to love when you outlive everyone.”

“Maybe there are some things you haven’t tried yet then.” 

“Perhaps.”

Baekhyun nodded, turning to open the fridge, and finding clarity within.

Another infinite sandwich too.

But mostly clarity.

* * *

His apartment complex finally came into view. Baekhyun took a few more long jogging strides before he came to a halt in front of the door. His sweat drenched hair hung in front of his face as he doubled over, resting the end of his forearms above his knees as he took huge ragged breaths.

“Do you always run that far?” Kyungsoo asked, suddenly leaning up against the door that lead into the complex.

Baekhyun took one more big gulp of breath before standing back up. He put his hands on his head to open up his lungs as he breathed and looked at Kyungsoo from afar.

“5 kilometers. Yeah.” Baekhyun nodded, still slick with sweat from his return trip. It had been especially humid this morning, which did not help in the least.

“Why?”

Hopefully the breathing thing gave Baekhyun enough of an excuse to formulate a response. He dropped his hands and reached for his keys inside of his pocket.

“Why not? I like being fit. Let’s me eat whatever I want.” Baekhyun answered.

Kyungsoo shrugged, “I think you’d look great even if you stopped.”

Baekhyun paused once more despite finding his keys in his shorts’ pocket.

“I know what my last wish is.”

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo’s eyebrows popped up.

“My wish is …” He pushed back his damp hanging bangs, “That you can either make yourself a human, freeing yourself from the whole shitty immortal gig and crashing at my place since Mongryeong is a bit attached to you … or you can just go ahead and disappear. Your choice.”

A look of trepidation passed between them. The people passing by them on the street that morning were inevitably off to their jobs or shopping or whatever people who don’t have either of those things to do on a Tuesday do, but they must have known. If they even for a moment caught a glimpse of the silent conversation going on between the boys they would think that something big was happening. It would, however, be slightly over their heads to comprehend the actual conversation.

“That’s it?” Kyungsoo chuckled, “You’re going to waste your last wish knowing I’m going to snap my fingers and disappear for good?”

Baekyun bit his lip, but not in frustration, just in thought. “I’m banking you’ve picked up on a couple things you’d like to do still. Maybe you could have a chance to know what it’s like to not be lonely. Either way you still get to die. Why not?”

The immortal broke their eye contact to look down the street. It was a nice neighborhood with nice people and nice cars and nice things. He admired the life that Baekhyun lived even if he had been giving him hell over his everyday decisions. Nobody had ever taken this long to make three wishes and nobody had ever made a final wish quite this dense. If only things were different, then maybe he could have made an easier decision.

“Wish granted.” Kyungsoo said, bringing his eyes back to Baekhyun’s own and snapping his fingers.

Just like that, Kyungsoo was gone.

* * *

Baekhyun pushed open the door of his apartment. He had waited for a few minutes outside in hopes that Kyungsoo would show back up. He didn’t know why he did that. It was foolish, but a boy can dream. After so long of having a good looking immortal hang over your head, it’s hard to live on without some adjustment.

He heard rustling in the kitchen as he entered.

“Hey, Mong--if you’re in the trash again.” Baekhyun warned, tossing his headphones on the coffee table.

He entered the kitchen, but the dog wasn’t there.

“Just me.” Kyungsoo said, his head peeking out from the open door of the fridge, “I haven’t been hungry in like a century. What’s good?”

Baekhyun stared at him awestruck for a moment before answering, “Uh … sandwiches?”

Just then his phone rang and he snatched the opportunity to answer it.

“Baekhyun!” Yixing said excitedly, “How’s your wisher problem? I’ll be back in town tomorrow.”

“I uh …” Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo who was holding one of the infinite sandwiches with a smile now, “I think I have it covered.”


End file.
